William “Wild Bill” Elliott

Born: Gordon Nance, October 16, 1903 in Pattonsburg, Missouri.  Died: November 26, 1965 Las Vegas, NV (cancer).

Beginning with the year 1940, Bill Elliott was a consistent member of the list of top ten cowboy stars for fourteen consecutive years.  Movie critics unanimously agreed that he came the closest to duplicating the style of old-time Western star William S. Hart.  Having adopted the format of portraying the “good Badman,” Elliott became a familiar figure with his characterizations of grim, poker-faced gunmen, usually starting out on the wrong side of the law, but redeeming himself by becoming a hero at the end of the last reel.

He was raised and educated in Kansas City, where his father was an agent for the stockyards.  It was there that he became acquainted with genuine cowboys from the West and learned to ride a horse like an expert.  By the time he reached the age of sixteen, he had competed in a few rodeo contests and won his first trophy.  Years later, Elliott went to California, where he studied dramatics and took part in theatricals at the Pasadena Community Playhouse.  Making his entrance in motion pictures in 1928, he appeared under his real name in several minor roles.  It was not until 1934 that he was able to gain any recognition.  In that year, he made an impression when he played a featured part in a film called Wonder Bar.  Then came a period of struggling to achieve stardom while he worked as a supporting actor, playing mostly villains in Westerns.

In 1938, Gordon changed his name to William and received the big break of his career when he was chosen to play the title role in a Columbia serial called The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickock.  He proved to be such a success that the studio quickly starred him in another chapter-play entitled Overland With Kit Carson before the year was over.  However, it was his role of Wild Bill Hickock that caused the fans to stick the term "Wild Bill" to his name.  For nearly five years after that, he remained with Columbia Studios as a star of Western features that finally brought him success and fame.

In 1943, Bill went to work for Republic Pictures where he succeeded Don Barry as the star of the popular "Red Ryder" Westerns.  After appearing in a string of these popular features, he vacated the series in 1945 in order to produce and star in his own films.  It was then that he portrayed characters fashioned after the type made famous by William S. Hart.  Doing away with the spectacular action of the ordinary B-Westerns, Bill Elliott concentrated more on realism and grown-up plots.  At a time when cowboy features were being over-run by singing heroes, he remained one of the few straight action stars, playing his roles with unusual zest and sincerity.

Completing almost twenty years as a cowboy star, Elliott retired from the screen in 1957 after making his last picture, Footsteps in the Night.  He left a trail of over seventy films in which he had displayed his fine horsemanship and a knack for handling action.  One of his features which fans liked was the way he wore his guns in a reversed-holster fashion and he was generally regarded as the fastest man on the draw since the days of old-time cowboy star Tim McCoy.

Although the B-Westerns had gone out of production after 1954, Elliott remained active by touring with a circus and hosting a TV show which re-ran his old pictures.  Unlike most of the new breed of cowboy stars, he was a conscientious rancher in real life and owned a sizeable spread near Calabasas, California, raising cattle and horses at a profit.  As far as hobbies, Bill was an avid student of geology and collected Western souvenirs.  While busy making a picture, he resided at his home in Westwood nearer Hollywood.  But, after his retirement, he lived at his ranch near Las Vegas, Nevada.

His marriage to his first wife, Helen, had ended in divorce after thirty-four years.  He was survived by his second wife, the former Dolly Moore, and a daughter, Barbara.